#22PushupChallenge

WATCH OF THE WEEK

But your ice buckets down and drop and give us twenty…two, that is. The latest viral challenge benefiting a good cause is the #22PushupChallenge, which aims to raise awareness and funding for veteran suicide prevention. Spearheaded by nonprofit organization 22Kill, the challenge as well as the cause were named for the estimated 22 veterans who commit suicide daily, and while it hasn’t reached ice bucket status just yet, the campaign recently received a bump in notoriety thanks to the participation of celebs like John Krasinski, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Chris Evans and many more. Here’s hoping that the #22PushupChallenge is as successful as its chilly predecessor!

MARKETING BUZZ

Living rent free for two years in a fully-furnished, beautifully-designed Japanese home by the sea? Where do we sign up? Japanese interior design company, Muji, is accepting applications for a few lucky people to live in their “Window House,” a concept invented in the company’s experimentation with natural light designs for future homes. Those selected will live rent free for two years in exchange for their participation in photo shoots, presentations, and giving feedback on the products. Not only is this a fantastic way to ensure their product is up to customer standards, it’s just the type of highly innovative and immersive brand engagement consumers are craving.

OUR OBSESSION

MIT Media Lab and Microsoft are bringing us the next frontier in wearables with DuoSkin, delicate user interfaces in the form of metallic tattoos. Resembling those flash tattoos you saw literally everyone wearing at Coachella, these new tech-infused tattoos function in three ways: as a track pad or control for another device; as a form of data output, changing colors with mood or body temperature; or as a communication device, which houses data that can be read from other devices. While the technology is still in its infancy, developers are aiming to make this product as accessible and easy to use as possible in order to bring this technology to the masses soon. How do we get on the wait list?

IN OUR CARTS

From Canopy to Handmade on Amazon, we’re big fans of Amazon’s specialty stores, and its new initiative is no exception. An extension of Product Hunt, the wildly successful curator of cool and innovative products, Amazon is bringing a “Featured on Product Hunt” section to Amazon Launchpad in order to help connect shoppers with these exciting new goods from start-ups. With merchandise ranging from Brew Cutlery (stainless steel bottle opening silverware) and 3D greeting cards to Sphero Star Wars BB-8 Droids and a MiniPresso handheld espresso maker, this prime partnership has us hitting the buy button more than we’d like to admit.

APP-TASTIC

Watch out Musical.ly, because a new musical app is on the rise. While Musical.ly built its impressive user base tapping into people’s love for making music videos of themselves, new app Triller takes this a step further, making it easy to direct and edit users’ videos and giving them celeb-worthy production value. And celeb-worthy it is! The app is generating plenty of buzz thanks to stars like Kevin Hart, Selena Gomez, and Justin Bieber posting their own videos on the app, while rapper Gucci Mane even released an in-app filter featuring his ice cream tattoo. With 10 million users and growing, we expect Triller to be a huge hit with Gen Vs, who love creating their own content and flock to platforms that allow them to showcase their creativity.

PROPS TO

What better way to cater to Millennials’ slacktivist sensibilities than allowing them to change the world as they sleep? Jeremy Cowart wants to do just that by creating the world’s first hotel designed to make the world a better place. Launching a Kickstarter campaign for The Purpose Hotel, Cowart’s vision has every aspect of the hotel experience directly benefitting a good cause. For instance, room fees might go toward sponsoring a child in need, internet charges might fight human trafficking, and various in-room products and furniture would be sourced from companies and organizations with an equally passionate commitment to doing good. We love how the initiative reimagines the entire hotel experience through lenses of sustainability and humanitarian efforts and hope to report back on a fully funded campaign soon!

Subscribe

Sign up with your email address to receive our weekly roundup of what to watch, download, click, and covet that will keep you up to date on the most vital of what's trending.